What's in Steve's pocket at Macworld? Could be a Mac mini

There have been rumors and widespread speculation about what Steve Jobs may pull out of his pocket this year. Last year in his keynote address, he pulled out an iPhone and introduced the hottest "must have" tech device.

There have been rumors and widespread speculation about what Steve Jobs may pull out of his pocket this year. Last year in his keynote address, he pulled out an iPhone and introduced the hottest “must have” tech device.

The buzz among analysts and bloggers is that Apple will offer up an ultra-light laptop (some have dubbed it "MacBook mini"), announce a new iTunes movie rental service and commit to Sony's (NYSE: SNE) Latest News about Sony Blu-ray high-definition video standard for future computers.

The last time Apple produced an ultra-small laptop was the PowerBook 2400 a decade ago, said American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu. He believes a slimmed-down Mac notebook could be priced at US$1,500 to $2,500. He and others said it could use lighter, and more stable, flash memory for those who want the Mac experience on the road without the weight of a laptop with a hard drive.

Apple blog MacRumors.com provides what-if mock-ups of a new small Mac laptop. The blog site also predicts the company will offer an external drive to keep the mini laptop as light as possible.

If these rumors are true, Apple may be taking another step toward capturing an audience in the business world as workers are increasingly mobile.